Many card games provide that at least a portion of the cards or “hand” dealt to a player be dealt face-down such that they remain unexposed to the other players. While often such cards are held in the hand of the player, certain games, including blackjack and poker, particularly when played in a casino venue, require that the cards remain face down on the table. In order to prevent others from viewing them, such “down” cards are typically inspected by the player by lifting a corner or edge of the card(s), the player lowering and angling his head to view the exposed indicia on the lifted portion of the card. For those with poor eyesight or with difficulties in positioning their head in an appropriate position to view the card, it is difficult to see the indicia and thus is an impediment to enjoyment of, or even participation in, the game.
While there exist other devices that provide assistance or means for viewing playing cards, they either require that the cards be lifted off the table to be placed on or in the device, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,229 to Morse, or are integrated into the playing surface and thus are not portable, such as that of U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,102.
It is accordingly the purpose of the present invention to provide a playing card viewing device which allows a player to comfortably view, in a private manner, the indicia of a “down” card without substantially moving his or her head from its normal position. A further purpose of the present invention is to provide such a viewing device that is highly portable, simple to use, and which can be used with conventional cards, and does not require any modification to the cards or a playing surface on which the cards are placed. Only an edge of the card or cards is slightly lifted off the table.